Ofsted raps Isle after-school club

Education

Published:08:12Friday 08 January 2016

A woman who has run an after-school club in the Isle for nine years has hit back following a damning report from Ofsted.

Key findings following an Ofsted inspection towards the end of last year at the All Aboard Children’s Club in Westwoodside included that ‘the provider failed to notify Ofsted of a serious accident involving a child’.

And the report adds: ‘Children are not kept safe because staff do not consistently tackle unwanted and potentially dangerous behaviour. Consequently, children’s health and safety are compromised and safeguarding arrangements are poor.’

The club that caters for four to 11 year olds in the adapted home of 49-year old Susan Harrison previously gained a grade two ‘Good’ judgement in August 2009.

But the education watchdog found the facility to be inadequate across the board during its recent visit.

Further criticism pointed out that staff practice is not monitored sufficiently and that staff have a poor understanding of how to support children’s learning. Nor do they ‘take in to account children’s individual needs, interests and stages of development when planning activities.’ The report also points to poor communication between staff and parents, and weak self-evaluation of the service given.

But it is noted that children ‘form positive relationships with staff and are confident and comfortable in the setting.’

Susan Harrison said she was very disappointed with the report. She said: “The serious accident was last summer and involved a child who was playing zombies outside. She had her eyes closed and ran in to a fence and cut her forehead. I rang her mother who then took her to the doctors and later the hospital, but the child was able to attend school the next day, I found out when I enquired. Because I did not report this to Ofsted it was considered a breach.”

She continued: “The potentially dangerous behaviour referred to in the report was because a child ran from one room to another. I did not consider the child to be in danger.

“There will be another inspection soon and I’m confident it will give a much better result.”

Ofsted set a series of benchmarks for actions at the club that included keeping accurate records of children’s attendance, implementing new systems to improve staff supervision and effectiveness, and ensuring activities are linked to children’s needs and stages of development.

Ms Harrison said that she did consider making a complaint against the report findings but decided against as it “would have led to even more complications”.

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